A COUPLE who instantly took a shine to one another at a village dance are just as besotted more than 60 years later.

Dennis and Christina Wild first met at a dance at the miners’ welfare hall at Deafhill, near Sedgefield, in County Durham, in the early fifties.

However, Mr Wild had caught his future wife’s eye the week before when she admired him from afar at the pictures in Wingate.

“He was very handsome,” said Mrs Wild, who is originally from Hesleden, near Peterlee. “He still is.”

And it seems the feeling was mutual, with Mr Wild bowled over by the young woman’s looks and personality.

The couple married at St John’s Church, in Hesleden, on December 19, 1953 and settled in Mr Wild’s home village of Trimdon Grange, where they have remained ever since.

Mr Wild, 84, originally worked as a bricklayer, before moving to work in the insurance sector.

Mrs Wild, 78, worked at Winterton Hospital in Sedgefield for 22 years.

The couple have three daughters, Joy, Rita and Lynne, seven grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

When asked the secret to a long and happy marriage, Mrs Wild said: “You just have to be patient and understanding. Every marriage has ups and downs and we do argue from time to time but we never fall out.”

The couple celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary by holding a special meal with friends and family last weekend.